The 'V' Spot: M. Hockey Spirit Lacking

BOSTON--The ghost of Cornell simply will not leave Harvard. Two days after falling hard from first place in a bruising, 2-1,defeat at Bright Hockey Center, the lumps the Big Red left were visible as Harvard limped from one end of the ice to the other.

At least, I'm hoping that was the reason because the Crimson's performance last night was simply inexcusable. Now, there is no shame in getting beat soundly by No. 2 Boston College. After all, the Eagles easily dispatched just about every good team in the nation the past couple of months except for No. 1 Michigan State.

Make no mistake about it, the Eagles wanted this game very badly. They have been, hands down, the best team in Boston the past five years, but it has been Jack Parker's B.U. Terriers that have skated away from the Fleet Center with the 'Pot six years running. One way or another, that streak had to end.

But last night's contest was not simply about Harvard getting whipped by a better team, but about a surprising lack of passion and energy that should be automatic for this tournament.

"We didn't have our edge tonight," Harvard Coach Mark Mazzoleni said. "I didn't think we provided much resistance. We didn't play anywhere near where we could."

B.C. tied up the Crimson in knots, outmuscling Harvard on the puck, and whizzing it around the ice with terrific precision. Harvard managed just three shots on goal in the first period, and at least two were weak sharp angle shots that appeared to be shots for the sake of shooting.

Harvard's mental and physical deficiency was evident on the Eagle's first goal. The puck was high in the Crimson zone with both captain Steve Moore and sophomore winger Brett Nowak around it with a chance to clear. However, it was B.C.'s Hobey Baker candidate, Brian Gionta who made the extra effort to pounce on the puck. He took the turnover below the face-off circle and placed a shot just under thje crossbar that no goalie in the nation could stop.

The Crimson had chances to get back in the offensive flow of the game, with five power plays on the game, but it was burned for holding on to the puck too long. Gionta, again, led the charge. Playing a role usually starring Harvard sophomore Dominic Moore, he pressured the points and had at least two shorthanded odd man rushes, including a breakawy halfway through the first that senior goalie Oli Jonas had to make a great kick save to stop.

The lumps kept on coming as B.C. killed off a 36 second two-man advantage in the second period and freshman Tim Petit took an interference penalty shortly thereafter neutralizing a potentially momentum building powerplay.

Through two periods of play, Eagle netminder Scott Clemmensen could have practically sat in his crease for a spot of tea, assured that Harvard wouldn't score. In fact, the third period, despite trailing only 3-0, seemed more a fight to stave off suffering its second consecutive shutout in the opening round at the Beanpot. Only through an excellent individual effort by Kenny Turano did the Crimson not have that monkey to deal with as well.

"Our decisions with the puck were not wise," Mazzoleni said. "We didn't make creative decisions with the puck and turned it over too much."

B.C. is an excellent hockey team, but quite frankly it is not that much better than Harvard. The Crimson showed in a 3-2 overtime defeat at Bright Hockey Center during Thanksgiving weekend that it can just about skate and hit with the mighty Eagles. B.C. may be considerably more polished, but that shouldn't have been a 4-1 loss.

It was a profoundly disappointing performance for Harvard, which has shown signs all year that it has returned to the big picture in college hockey. The Crimson is tied for second place in the ECAC and has just as good a chance as any for the league crown. After getting shutout at the Beanpot, 4-0, by Boston University last year, a defiant Mazzoleni promised that next year his team would not roll over in the first round.

Based on last night's performance, it's hard to credit him for much improvement, and that's where the disappointment comes in, because this is an immeasurably better Crimson squad. Harvard is ahead of schedule for its resurgence and the recruits in place for next year appear capable of taking more strides.

Harvard has skilled forwards up front, a dynamic line in Dom Moore-Tyler Kolarik-Tim Petit, a potent power play and penalty kill, and gets dynamite goaltending from Jonas. In fact, of the entire Crimson team, it seemed that only Jonas brought his A-game to the Fleet Center. He slid across the crease and robbed Mark McLennan on a slam dunk with his blocker in the second period when the game was still 2-0.

But Jonas couldn't bring home a Beanpot by himself and yet another Harvard senior class falls by the wayside without Boston glory. The Crimson has lost five of its past six Beanpot semifinal rounds and until it stops playing consolation games, it won't get the respect that its play otherwise merits.

"We had trouble setting up, and trouble establishing establishing anything in the zone," captain Steve Moore said. "We've seen it before, but couldn't get the job done."

Just one more reason to go after Cornell at Lake Placid.